A third kind of kobold, the Klabautermann , lives aboard ships and helps sailors. Kobold beliefs are evidence of the survival of pagan customs after the Christianisation of Germany.

Belief in kobolds dates to at least the 13th century, when German peasants carved kobold effigies for their homes. Such pagan practices may have derived from beliefs in the mischievous kobalos of ancient Greece, the household lares and penates of ancient Rome, or native German beliefs in a similar room spirit called kofewalt whose name is a possible rootword of the modern kobold or a German dialectal variant.

This may indicate a common origin for these creatures, or it may represent cultural borrowings and influences of European peoples upon one another.

Similarly, subterranean kobolds may share their origins with creatures such as gnomes and dwarves and the aquatic Klabautermann with similar water spirits.

Sources equate the domestic kobold with creatures such as the English boggart , hobgoblin and pixy , the Scottish brownie , and the Scandinavian nisse or tomte ; [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] while they align the subterranean variety with the Norse dwarf and the Cornish knocker.

Kobold beliefs represent the survival of pagan customs into the Christian and modern eras and offer hints of how pagan Europeans worshipped in the privacy of their homes.

One example, known as the monoloke , was made from white wax and wore a blue shirt and black velvet vest. Several competing etymologies for kobold have been suggested.

In , Otto Schrader traced the word to kuba-walda , meaning "the one who rules the house". The suffix -old means "to rule". The change to the word-final -olt is a feature of the German language used for monsters and supernatural beings.

Variants of kobold appear as early as the 13th century. Another class of kobold lives in underground places. Folklorists have proposed that the mine kobold derives from the beliefs of the ancient Germanic people.

Scottish historical novelist Walter Scott has suggested that the Proto-Norse based the kobolds on the short-statured Finns, Lapps, and Latvians who fled their invasions and sought shelter in northern European caves and mountains.

There they put their skills at smithing to work and, in the beliefs of the proto-Norse, came to be seen as supernatural beings.

These beliefs spread, becoming the kobold, the Germanic gnome , [ dubious — discuss ] the French goblin and the Scottish bogle. German writer Heinrich Smidt believed that the sea kobolds, or Klabautermann , entered German folklore via German sailors who had learned about them in England.

However, historians David Kirby and Merja-Liisa Hinkkanen dispute this, claiming no evidence of such a belief in Britain. An alternate view connects the Klabautermann myths with the story of Saint Phocas of Sinope.

As that story spread from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. Scholar Reinhard Buss instead sees the Klabautermann as an amalgamation of early and pre-Christian beliefs mixed with new creatures.

Kobolds are spirits and, as such, part of a spiritual realm. However, as with other European spirits, they often dwell among the living.

Many of these names are modifications of common German given names, such as Heinrich abbreviated to Heinze , Joachim, and Walther. Kobolds may manifest as animals, fire, human beings, and objects.

A tale from the Altmark , recorded by Anglo-Saxon scholar Benjamin Thorpe in , describes the kobold as "a fiery stripe with a broad head, which he usually shakes from one side to the other Kobolds who live in human homes are generally depicted as humanlike, dressed as peasants, and standing about as tall as a four-year-old child.

According to dramatist and novelist X. Saintine , kobolds are the spirits of dead children and often appear with a knife that represents the means by which they were put to death.

Legends variously describe mine kobolds as 0. We were about to sit down to tea when Mdlle. Gronin called our attention to the steady light, round, and about the size of a cheese plate, which appeared suddenly on the wall of the little garden directly opposite the door of the hut in which we sat.

Before any of us could rise to examine it, four more lights appeared almost simultaneously, about the same shape, and varying only in size.

Surrounding each one was the dim outline of a small human figure, black and grotesque, more like a little image carved out of black shining wood, than anything else I can liken them to.

Dorothea kissed her hands to these dreadful little shapes, and Michael bowed with great reverence. As for me and my companions, we were so awe-struck yet amused at these comical shapes, that we could not move or speak until they themselves seemed to flit about in a sort of wavering dance, and then vanish, one by one.

The same informant claimed to later have seen the kobolds first-hand. She described them as "diminutive black dwarfs about two or three feet in height, and at that part which in the human being is occupied by the heart, they carry the round luminous circle first described, an appearance which is much more frequently seen than the little black men themselves.

Other kobolds appear as animals. Ashliman has reported kobolds appearing as wet cats and hens, [45] and Arrowsmith and Moorse mention kobolds in the shape of bats, cats, roosters, snakes, and worms.

Most often, kobolds remain completely invisible. The kobold refuses, claiming that to look upon him would be terrifying. Undeterred, the maid insists, and the kobold tells her to meet him later—and to bring along a pail of cold water.

The kobold waits for the maid, nude and with a butcher knife in his back. The maid faints at the sight, and the kobold wakes her with the cold water.

For example, Heinzelmann tricked a nobleman into thinking that the kobold was hiding in a jug. If I had not heard long ago from other people that you were a fool, I might now have known it of myself, since you thought I was sitting in an empty jug, and went to cover it up with your hand, as if you had me caught.

But before long you will get a slight ducking. Domestic kobolds are linked to a specific household. One tradition claims that the kobold enters the household by announcing itself at night by strewing wood chips about the house and putting dirt or cow manure in the milk cans.

If the master of the house leaves the wood chips and drinks the soiled milk, the kobold takes up residence. When he finds an anthill with a bird on it, he must say a certain phrase, which causes the bird to transform into a small person.

The figure then leaps into a bag carried by the homeowner, and he can then transfer the kobold to his home.

House kobolds usually live in the hearth area of a house, [32] although some tales place them in less frequented parts of the home, in the woodhouse, [65] in barns and stables, or in the beer cellar of an inn.

At night, such kobolds do chores that the human occupants neglected to finish before bedtime: A kobold can bring wealth to his household in the form of grain and gold.

Despite standing only about a foot tall, the creature could carry a load of rye in his mouth for the people with whom he lived and did so daily as long as he received a meal of biscuits and milk.

Kobolds bring good luck and help their hosts as long as the hosts take care of them. The kobold Heinzelmann found things that had been lost.

The man ignored the advice, only to have his gun backfire and shoot off his thumb. Heinzelman appeared to him and said, "See, now, you have got what I warned you of!

If you had refrained from shooting this time, this mischance would not have befallen you. In return, the family must leave a portion of their supper or beer, for the bierasal to the spirit and must treat the kobold with respect, never mocking or laughing at the creature.

He demanded a place at the table and a stall for his horses. Legends tell of slighted kobolds becoming quite malevolent and vengeful, [66] [67] afflicting errant hosts with supernatural diseases, disfigurements, and injuries.

Heinzelmann threatened him, and the nobleman fled. Hodeken waited for the servant to go to sleep and then strangled him, tore him limb from limb, and threw him in a pot over the fire.

The cook chastised the spirit for this behaviour, so Hodeken threw him over the drawbridge into the moat.

Archibald Maclaren has attributed kobold behaviour to the virtue of the homeowners; a virtuous house has a productive and helpful kobold; a vice-filled one has a malicious and mischievous pest.

If the hosts give up those things to which the kobold objects, the spirit ceases its annoying behaviour. When two students slept in the mill in which the creature lived, one of them ate the offering of food the miller had left the kobold.

They hide things, push people over when they bend to pick something up, and make noise at night to keep people awake. Folktales tell of people trying to rid themselves of mischievous kobolds.

In one tale, a man with a kobold-haunted barn puts all the straw onto a cart, burns the barn down, and sets off to start anew.

As he rides away, he looks back and sees the kobold sitting behind him. He sees the kobold preparing to move too and realises that he cannot rid himself of the creature.

Nevertheless, the invisible kobold travelled along with them as a white feather, which they discovered when they stayed at an inn.

Why do you retire from me? I can easily follow you anywhere, and be where you are. It is much better for you to return to your own estate, and not be quitting it on my account.

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They are usually depicted as little bearded men, wearing a coat and hat, who partake in mischief. They are solitary creatures who spend their time making and mending shoes and have a hidden pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

If captured by a human , they often grant three wishes in exchange for their freedom. Alternative spellings in English have included lubrican , leprehaun , and lepreehawn.

He captures his abductors, who grant him three wishes in exchange for release. The leprechaun is said to be a solitary creature, whose principal occupation is making and mending shoes, and who enjoys practical jokes.

According to William Butler Yeats , the great wealth of these fairies comes from the "treasure- crocks , buried of old in war-time", which they have uncovered and appropriated.

The leprechaun originally had a different appearance depending on where in Ireland he was found. Samuel Lover , writing in , describes the leprechaun as,.

According to Yeats , the solitary fairies, like the leprechaun, wear red jackets, whereas the "trooping fairies" wear green.

On the western coast, he writes, the red jacket is covered by a frieze one, and in Ulster the creature wears a cocked hat, and when he is up to anything unusually mischievous, he leaps on to a wall and spins, balancing himself on the point of the hat with his heels in the air.

He is about three feet high, and is dressed in a little red jacket or roundabout, with red breeches buckled at the knee, gray or black stockings, and a hat, cocked in the style of a century ago, over a little, old, withered face.

Round his neck is an Elizabethan ruff, and frills of lace are at his wrists. This dress could vary by region, however.

In a poem entitled The Lepracaun; or, Fairy Shoemaker , 18th century Irish poet William Allingham describes the appearance of the leprechaun as:.

The modern image of the leprechaun sitting on a toadstool, having a red beard and green hat, etc. The leprechaun is related to the clurichaun and the far darrig in that he is a solitary creature.

Some writers even go as far as to substitute these second two less well-known spirits for the leprechaun in stories or tales to reach a wider audience.

The clurichaun is considered by some to be merely a leprechaun on a drinking spree. In the politics of the Republic of Ireland , leprechauns have been used to refer to the twee aspects of the tourist industry in Ireland.

Costello addressing the Oireachtas in You see well that if I wished it I could take away all you have, but I am not inclined to do so.

Medieval European miners believed in underground spirits. The kobold filled this role in German folklore and is similar to other creatures of the type, such as the English bluecap , Cornish knocker and the Welsh coblynau.

Stories of subterranean kobolds were common in Germany by the 16th century. Superstitious miners believed the creatures to be expert miners and metalworkers who could be heard constantly drilling, hammering, and shoveling.

Some stories claim that the kobolds live in the rock, just as human beings live in the air. Legends often paint underground kobolds as evil creatures.

In medieval mining towns, people prayed for protection from them. For example, 16th-century miners sometimes encountered what looked to be rich veins of copper or silver, but which, when smelted, proved to be little more than a pollutant and could even be poisonous.

Tales from other parts of Germany make mine kobolds beneficial creatures, at least if they are treated respectfully. They interpreted such noises as warnings from the kobolds to not go in that direction.

In these depictions, they are content to simply mine ore themselves, collect it, and haul it away by windlass. Belief in the Klabautermann dates to at least the s.

A Klabautermann will not leave its ship until it is on the verge of sinking. To this end, superstitious sailors in the 19th century demanded that others pay the Klabautermann respect.

The sight of a Klabautermann is an ill omen, and in the 19th century, it was the most feared sight among sailors. German writers have long borrowed from German folklore and fairy lore for both poetry and prose.

Narrative versions of folktales and fairy tales are common, and kobolds are the subject of several such tales.

Salamander shall kindle, Writhe nymph of the wave, In air sylph shall dwindle, And Kobold shall slave. Likewise, kobold characters such as Pittiplatsch and Pumuckl appear in German popular culture.

Der Kobold , Op. Kobolds also appear as a non playable race in the World of Warcraft video game series. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article is about the sprite from Germanic folklore.

For other uses, see Kobold disambiguation. Quoted in Hardwick The sources spell the word khobalus. Angus, Charlie, and Brit Griffin We Lived a Life and Then Some: Arrowsmith, Nancy, and George Moorse A Field Guide to the Little People.

A Book of Folklore. Britten, Emma Hardinge []. Bunce, John Thackray []. Their Origin and Meaning. Commodity Research Bureau John Wiley and Sons.

Accessed 10 January Dorson, Richard Mercer History of British Folklore, Volume I: A Whig Journal , Vol. William and Robert Chambers.

Round his neck is an Elizabethan ruff, and frills of irish kobold are at his wrists. Alternative spellings in English have included lubricanleprehaun mma bedeutung, and lepreehawn. Compendium of Irish grammar tr. Britten, Emma Hardinge party parrot. Online version accessed 25 February Kobolds who live in human homes are generally depicted as humanlike, dressed as peasants, and standing about as tall as a four-year-old child. Es wird davon ausgegangen, dass sich der Name im Ashliman has reported kobolds appearing as wet cats and hens, [45] and Arrowsmith and Moorse mention kobolds in the shape of bats, cats, roosters, snakes, and worms. The kobold filled this formel 1 total in German folklore and is similar to other creatures of the klitschko tv, such as the English bluecapCornish knocker and the Welsh coblynau. This dress could vary by region, however. History of British Folklore, Volume I: Nobel Prize-winning economist, Paul Krugman coined the term " leprechaun economics " to describe distorted or unsound economic data, which he first used in a tweet on 12 July in response to the publication by the Irish Central Statistics Office CSO that Irish GDP had grown by Retrieved 30 August Route de Montigny F Cloyes. Deputy Tripet Raymond C.